Emperor Ke Zha returned again today.
His expression was severe and just looked gloomily at me. I asked, “What is it, Your Majesty? Did something happen?”
Ke Zha nodded. “The demon race and the beast clans have allied and is already starting to invade Str?m Fortress .”
I was astonished, it couldn’t be that Mu Zi didn’t convince her father to stop the invasion, right? I anxiously asked, “When did this happen?”
Ke Zha replied, “It is the the day before yesterday. We had already send out the fourth, seventh and twelfth armies to stop the advancement with Principal Long leading them.”
I asked, “Is Teacher Di feeling better already?”
Ke Zha shook his head. “I don’t know what is really going on with him but he hasn’t been doing his job properly.”
I nodded. “I’ll have to trouble you to check on that old man. Is there something you needed for me by coming to visit me this time?”
Ke Zha replied amazed, “You’re really smart. If you didn’t betray the human race, it would have been so much better. I am currently not afraid about the Str?m Fortress as the defense there is extremely rigid. What I fear is that the method the demon race used to enter the back of the Str?m Fortress. We currently don’t know how those assassins were able to enter the eastern continent. You had spent sometimes with that demoness of the demon race. I came this time is to ask you if you know how they were able to come over.”
I replied, “I know how the demon race came over. You shouldn’t need to worry about that as they will need to have a Magister to bring their people over and will deplete their strength due to the immense magic power needed to activate the teleportation array. Moreover, the previous assassination had made them loss a lot of their forces. Even if they were to teleport over, there won’t be a lot of them.” ‘I am a human after all. I definitely don’t wish for the magic clan to invade us. A terrible situation will occur that way.’
Ke Zha heaved a sigh of relief. “Zhang Gong, thank you for telling me such a good news. I can relax a little that way. Rest up.” After he said that, he turned and walked away. It seemed that he had come in here just to gather information.
The demon race had already started the invasion. I didn’t know what the front line was like. I didn’t know if Mu Zi had participated in the start of the war. No matter what the outcome was, it didn’t have any relation to me as I was just like a living dead person.
……
After another three days, and after I had finished eating the thick congee around noon, there was suddenly a bright light that shone beside me. As I had been in darkness for a long time, I instantly saw everything become completely white. I hastily closed my eyes.
When the white light disappeared, I squinted my eyes. There was a small delicate black masked person standing before me.
I asked, “Who are you? Why did you come here?”
The masked person pulled down the black mask. “Zhang Gong, it is me. I have come to rescue you.”
After I looked straight at the person, I found out it was Hai Shui. I momentarily turned pale with fright. “Hai Shui, why did you come in here? You should hurriedly leave this place. If you’re discovered, you’ll be in big trouble.”
Hai Shui chucked mournfully, “You can give up your life for Big Sister Mu Zi. Why can’t I come to save you?”
I asked, “How did you come here? Ke Zha had said that he was the only one that knew about this place.”
Hai Shui replied, “You have already been locked up in this place for two months. In these past two months, you had made a few of the teachers to be extremely anxious about you. Do you know that those few teachers have been monitored by His Majesty because of you, since he feared that they will come to save you?”
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Volume 7: Chapter 11 - Recovering Magic Power
I dejectedly said, “I’ve caused trouble for those teachers.”
Hai Shui walked to my front and squatted down. Her entire body shuddered and tears flowed out from her eyes. She took out a pill from her bosom and forced it into my mouth. She gently caressed my thin and pallid face and said, “How can they treat you like this? Big brother Zhang Gong, you’ve really suffered.”
The pill liquefied and flowed down my throat. My stomach instantly seemed to work and my energy slowly rejuvenated. I asked, “It is the antidote to the powder that softened my cartilages?”
Hai Shui nodded. “You should try your best to recover your strength and magic powers. If you want to get out of here, you’ve got to rely entirely on yourself.”
I asked, “You still haven’t explained to me on how you got in here?”
Hai Shui replied, “After you were captured that day, Teacher Zhen came to find me and told me about what happened to you before asking me if I’m willing to go save you. I replied that I am. Teacher Zhen said that the few old fellows were being monitored so they couldn’t come and rescue you. The Emperor would definitely not lock you up in the palace, so I have kept a lookout outside the palace to see when His Majesty would leave the palace. After waiting for a long time, he finally came out and I followed him here. However, I couldn’t get in here as it was too heavily guarded, so I returned to tell Teacher Zhen. After he and Teacher Di discussed the problem, they decided to use a teleportation array to come and save you. We estimated the distance and tested it out a couple of times. We finally succeeded. Actually, I had already come in once but it was when you were asleep. I discovered you were abnormally weak and didn’t want to startle you so I headed back and told Teacher Zhen. Teacher Zhen said you should have been given a medication that would soften your cartilages. I don’t know where he got the antidote before letting me come again.”
I had never thought that those few old teachers still had not given up on me after all this time and still cared for me. Tears flowed down my face and I replied choked with sobs, “You return and help me to thank Teacher Zhen.”
Hai Shui replied, “Time is pressing so I’ve got to go. I’ll come again three days later. It will also be the time you make your escape. You’ll have to spend three days recovering your strength.”
I asked, “How is Ma Ke and your sister?”
Hai Shui sighed, “His Majesty feared that Ma Ke will come to save you due to your brotherhood so he locked him up. My sister hasn’t seen Ma Ke for a long time already.”
I replied in pain, “I never thought that because of me, I would have implicated so many people. I’m really sorry. You really shouldn’t have come to save me. If something goes wrong, you’ll ruin your future. I really don’t know how to repay you, you’ve done such an immense favor for me.”
Hai Shui’s tears dropped on my face before she replied, “Big brother Zhang Gong, you don’t need to say anything further. As long as you can give a small portion of your heart to me, I’ll be satisfied. We’re all your friends. You’ll only know our feelings during dangerous times. Now, I really have to go. Take care! We’ll meet again in three days time. “After she said that, she took out an escape scroll from her bosom and teleported away.”
I finally understood. Hai Shui treated me as though I was treating Mu Zi. It was out of willingness due to love. ‘You’ll only know our feelings during dangerous times.’ was an extremely good phrase. You came to save me in my most difficult time. How could I not feel gratitude towards you?